Sword Art Online: Unity
by 117Jorn
Summary: What happens, when five friends, among 10,000 other players of Sword Art Online, are trapped within the game they once praised, where if they die in the game, they die in real life? This is the story of one Guild who do everything in their power to bring the terrors of SAO. Rated M For Graphic Content and LEMONS.


**117Jorn: HELLO EVERYONE! 117Jorn here, presenting you with an all-new fanfic for you all! And I am not alone, as I am joined by my friends here! **

**Takeshi Yamato: Yo! :D**

**DragonKnightRyu: What are you peons doing here?**

**Patriot-112:** **What's up?**

**117Jorn: We are here with our new fanfic, which will be about the anime 'Sword Art Online'! An Anime I recently discovered recently. This will basically be a fic where myself, and my friends here, will be among the many people who log-in to Sword Art Online during its launch, and subsequently get trapped into the game! So, I won't bore you with this AN... so lets us begin!**

* * *

**November 6th 2022**

**South-Eastern United States  
**

* * *

A young man sat behind the keyboard of his desktop computer, as he typed a series of commands into his keyboard. The man in question looked about 19 years old, with short clean cut brown hair, and brown eyes. He typed more words as he chatted with his friends online.

_117Jorn: Dammit, the game is taking forever to install! How 'bout you guys?_

He then waited for one of his other friends to respond.

_Takeshi Yamato: Ditto. My guess is that it's got so much content that the client software is utterly massive._

_117Jorn: Ryu? Patriot? What about you guys?_

_DragonKnightRyu: Not too badly, glad I saved up for that Alienware computer though_

_Patriot-122: *Sigh* My laptop can be reliable for one day, but be on the fritz the next. Luckily it's on a reliable day._

117Jorn, aka Jordan Tackett, smiled as he typed another message

_117Jorn: That's good, let's just pray your Parents don't get in the way. Thank god mine are out of town for the next few days, so I'm good._

_Patriot-112: Sigh, well thankfully they're going on one of their rare vacations for a couple of days, so we've got some time._

_Takeshi Yamato: Mine had to go attend one of their friends' weddings. I swear, whenever someone announces a wedding, the friends of the couple are all rushing to the location of said wedding like lemmings. When I get married, I'm just going to avoid all that hassle and elope._

_DragonKnightRyu: lol, my bro is out of country on the job, know that flood in the states? Well Belfor sent him out to assist with the clean-up and I'm not on-call or even backup, so I'm in the clear._

_Takeshi Yamato: Good to hear, Ryu. And yeah, my parents are gonna be gone for at least a week because of the wedding, giving me the run of the house._

_DragonKngihtRyu: Food's all stocked up, plenty of coke, spiced Rhum, and much more goodies for gaming marathons._

_Patriot-112: I swear, Ryu, you're like Jack Sparrow when it comes to Rhum._

_DragonKnightRyu: Hate the taste of normal beer, vodka coolers give me hangovers, as do mixed drinks, shots aren't good for gaming, so Rhum and coke is the best choice._

_DragonKnightRyu: Hey... remember the time I started to sing 'I gotta jar of dirt' in Terracraft?_

_117Jorn: *Groans* That is the LAST time you are drinking while gaming..._

_Takeshi Yamato: Yeah... although part of me wonders how you'd handle Klingon Bloodwine or Romulan Ale. Heck, I want to see what Raktajino tastes like. When Star Trek Online VR hits shelves, I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO getting that. :D_

_ShadowMaster94 has opened the Chat_

_ShadowMaster94: Hey guys!_

_117Jorn: Hey Dennis, what's up?_

_ShadowMaster94: Eh, not much. Waiting for the game itself to go online, just finished installing it. _

_117Jorn: WHAT? How are you finished? Mine's still at 78% Complete! _

_ShadowMaster94: *Shrugs* I dunno. _

_Patriot-112: Huh? Well this is odd._

_Takeshi Yamato: I'm at 81%, myself-still, Dennis, you must have a super-fast computer or something to be done already._

_DragonKnightRyu: 99% And mind you this is a _personally _upgraded Alienware, how the hell did you manage it man?_

_ShadowMaster94: I've got a good internet connection here... that's about it. _

_ShadowMaster84: Hey Jordan, what should we expect from this game anyhow? You were in the Beta, right? _

_117Jorn: Well, first few areas are pretty easy, assuming they didn't change too much. The game itself has pretty much an infinite amount of skill types like bows, lock picking, one-handed weapons, two-handed, and such. The only thing I think it's lacking is that they didn't include any hard-core magic skills like Terracraft did. _

_Takeshi Yamato: WHAT?! NO MAGIC?! That's some seriously bad juju there! I kicked all sorts of butt over in Terracraft because I was able to back up my sword skills with a barrage of Firebolts! Why does this game not have any magic?!_

_Patriot-112: Probably because they want people to experience how a real swordsman handles him or herself. _

_DragonKnightRyu: Besides, I'll be covering you guys at range remember? Rangers for the win!_

_Takeshi Yamato: I suppose you have a point... but still! Fantasy Games like this one is supposed to be are meant to have Magic! STOVR won't have any, but I wouldn't expect it to-it's technically not a fantasy game. Not including Magic in a game where magic is the norm for said game's genre is seriously bad juju!_

_117Jorn: Well, I think its a nice change of things. Besides, you gotta admit, Takeshi... you _really _did spam way too many Firebolts. Remember when you burned down that entire forest? I swear, the Admin's were pissed..._

_Takeshi Yamato: Okay, so maybe I am a bit of a Pyromaniac..._

_117Jorn: Understatement of the century... anyways, I think the closest thing they _do _have to magic would be the few abilities you can unlock while you level up, like stealth cloaks and such. But the thing you need to remember guys is the Motion Input System, it's sorta like a targeting aid, it helps you hit what you're aiming for. Not to mention it looks awesome as hell when you use it. _

_Takeshi Yamato: Gotcha. I look forward to trying it out, but I am extremely hopeful that they include a Magic System in this thing in a later expansion._

_Takeshi Yamato: Huh. Would you look at that-install's done._

_DragonKnightRyu: Logging in now, cya guys there!_

_DragonKnightRyu has Logged Out._

Jordan looked at the Installation screen, and grinned as it finally read '100%' and the Start button was green.

_117Jorn: Finished installing here too, you done yet Patriot?_

_Patriot-112: Just one second...bingo!_

_Patriot-112 has logged out_

_Takeshi Yamato: Well, I'm gonna login, too-see you all in a bit!_

_Takeshi Yamato has Logged Out. _

Jordan grinned as he logged out as well, before he began to pull up Sword Art Online. He quickly put on his Nerve-Gear, on his head, plugging everything up before he lied down on his bed, as he waited for the timer to strike 12:00 PM.

As the Nerve Gear started, he heard the light humm as it powered up. he then closed his eyes, and spoke the command "Link... Start!"

Suddenly, just as the clock struck twelve, everything when white for Jordan as bars of light flashed past him, before the log-in screen appeared before him, automatically synchronizing with his mind as his physical body appeared to go limp. He picked the 'english' setting before logging in. When it asked for him to use the same data he had from the Beta test, he pressed 'yes' before everything in front of him went blank before a message said:

_Welcome to Sword Art Online_

Then, blue electricity seemed to fly past him, before in one final flash of light, everything went dark. Jordan's eyes opened once more, as he was no longer in his room, or in his bed. As he was now standing in the middle of a city square. He blinked a few times, before he checked his own motions. '_Motions are good, no lag..._' he thought, as he went through a series of moves including jumping and punching. '_It all looks good._'

He then looked at a nearby mirror, and grinned as he saw his avatar, a young man who looked similar to himself in real life, only with added spiked black hair, and crimson colored eyes, wearing a set of armor composed of a dark red and black colored breastplate, with four plates protecting his legs attached to it, identical shoulder pads, and matching arm and leg guards. He also wears a belt, to which is attached a pouch and his sword on his waist. Underneath his armour he wore a simple dark suit along with fingerless gloves and sandals.

"Hehe, still got my old Avatar." He said, before he looked up and around him, as flashes of light appeared as other players began to log in. "Hello Sword Art... I'm back!"

He then sighed for a moment, as he pulled up the menu before him "Alright, time to find the others..." he said, as he did a character search.

Takeshi was the closest, and his avatar was that of a 26-year-old man with brown hair done in a buzz cut and violet eyes, clad in armor consisting of a dark blue breastplate, black legplates greaves, and dark blue shoulder pads and arm guards, all over a dark black jumpsuit with dark blue fingerless gloves. His sword was strapped to his back.

"Hey there, Jorn!" he called out as he walked over. "Man, this thing is incredible! It actually feels real!"

Jordan smiled as he nodded. "Yeah, it feels ten times more real than Terracraft was!" he said, looking around. "They're actually using the full extent of the Nerve gear for this one... hang on, let me send you a party invite..." he soon pulled up the menu again, before sending Takeshi a Party invite.

It took a little bit of instruction on Jordan's part, but Takeshi was soon in Jordan's party, and they were looking for the rest of their friends.

"Yo, Jorn, Takeshi!" A voice called out to them as they were walking, turning they spotted a male heading towards them, he had a short cut much like Takeshi did with dark green eyes and had a 5 o'clock shadow dusting his lower face. He was wearing a dark brown outfit made out of leather with a black metal armguard that covered his entire right arm save for his fingers and had a pair of leather boots with a dark green cape finished the outfit off. He was carrying a longbow in one hand as the other held the strap to a quiver full of arrows and had the hilt of a short sword peeking out from under the cape. "Finally found you."

"Ryu!" Jorn said with a smile "Glad you're here, we were about to start looking for you. You seen any of the others yet?"

"Not yet no," Ryu declared as he looked around at all of the players. "Hell of a crowd, they really hyped this game, didn't they?"

"No kidding," said Ryu, "I wonder what Patriot's avatar would look like?"

"Why don't you look behind you Ryu?" a voice said and they turned around and saw a man who appeared in his mid twenties, wearing a brown shirt and pants, with black boots, and dark tan armor, and black fingerless gloves. His weapons were a katana like sword on his back, and a set of three kunai knives on his belt. His eyes were brown, and his brown hair was cut in a military buzz cut. The man smirked as he looked at the three.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"Patriot?" Ryu asked with a raised eyebrow. "Alright, where's Dennis then?"

"Here!" A new voice said, as they turned and saw a man who looked as old as Jorn's Avatar, with dark tan skin and short black hair with red highlights, along with dark brown eyes wearing a red sleeveless jacket over a black T-shirt, and black pants and shoes. Strapped on his waist was a single broadsword. "Man, this place is huge... just look at all of the people showing up!" He then glanced at several girl Avatars who walked by them "...and a lot of girls here too..."

Jorn rolled his eyes. "Be wary, Dennis," he said. "Trust me, I wouldn't be surprised if at least half of the girls here are really guys with women avatars."

"And of those that _**are**_ female, 10 bucks says that half of them are little kids, aka Jail Bait," Takeshi added.

"Actually, I've had _awesome _luck with that," Ryu announced with a smug grin. "You guys remember those smoking elve from Terracraft?"

Jorn looked at Ryu curiously. "The light elf with the bow, or the dark elf with the epic eyes?" he asked. "One of the twin paladins we went on that Dungeon quest with?"

"The twin Paladins," Ryu clarified. "Let's just say, they're twins in life and they do _everything _together."

Takeshi's eyes bugged out. "No way..." he breathed. "You actually did... _that_... with Twins?"

"Best loss of virginity in all mankind. _Ever._" Ryu announced a wide grin on his face as a slight blush dusted his cheeks. "Hell, I think I still got their number, too."

Jorn looked at Ryu with a slack jaw. "Ok... gotta ask this though..." he said, "Did you do it in real life... or in VR? I heard they uplifted _that _filter a while ago..."

Ryu grinned widely. "Let's just say, that as elves and as humans, they are _very _flexible." He hinted, causing all of the others to blush as well.

Takeshi's jaw was hanging open. "Wow," he said as the implications of that statement set in. He then smiled slightly. "Hey, who knows? They might be in this game, too."

Ryu's grin and perverse giggle proved just why the group called him Jiraiya reborn.

"So, what do we do first Jorn?" Dennis asked, "I'm itching for some action, so where should we find it?"

"Well..." Jorn said, crossing his arms over his chest "There is a Boss on this stage... however, before we tackle him, we should raise our levels to a minimum of level 6 first. We should just do some simple PVP, and hunt some of the animals and creatures for the Experience Points. Being party'd up gives us more XP."

Ryu bounced a bit on his toes. "Sounds like a plan," he agreed. "Can't wait to get my head shot notches going."

Takeshi chuckled. "You and your headshots..." he muttered. "Well, I'm wanting to get in some practice with my sword, so count me in, too."

However, before any of them could move, another voice behind them spoke up "Hey, uhh... excuse me?" They turned around, and saw who it came from: That being a young man who looked a year or two younger than Jorn, and had tan skin, short spiky red hair and dark green colored eyes, and was wearing the standard starting gear of anyone from SAO, a small leather vest, a light brown long-sleeved shirt under it, a leather belt with some pouches, light brown pants, and shoes.

Jorn blinked, but nodded. "Yes, how can I help you?" he asked.

The player seemed to fidget a little before he sighed. "I... overheard what you and your friends said, and..." he began. "You... sound like you know where to go so... were you in the Beta?"

"Yeah, I was." Jorn said. "What about it?"

"Can... can you help me?" The player asked, seemingly embarrassed. "I've never played this game before... I can _really _use the help of someone from the Beta... _please._"

Jorn blinked for a moment before he turned to the others. "What do you guys say?" he asked, "Should we bring him?"

Takeshi shrugged. "The more, the merrier," he said.

Ryu looked the kid over. "Eh, why not?" He asked rhetorically. "We were all noobs once."

Dennis nodded "Sure, I don't got a problem with it." he said.

"Well, I guess it's decided then." Patriot said, "Send him the invite Jorn."

"Right," Jorn said, as he pulled up the menu "I don't think I got your name...?"

"Oh, right... its Christi-err-," he said, seeming hesitant for a split second before continuing "opher, Christopher, that's my name! Though my friends call me uhh, Chris!"

Jorn and the others blinked in confusion before he just shrugged "Alright Chris... invite sent!"

Chris nodded as he pulled up his own menu and accepted the party invite "Alright then, let's go!" Jorn said, "I know some good hunting grounds we can go to, so let's go before anyone else finds them!"

* * *

_**Later, **_

_**Forest area**_

* * *

"YEOW!" Chris shouted as he was bashed back a few meters, sliding along the dirt as his health bar decreased a bit. "That hurt!"

Jorn chuckled a bit as the slime that attacked Chris turned its ugly head away from him, "You must have the pain inhibitors off," he said. "Turn them on and you won't feel any pain."

Chris shook his head for a moment, before he looked up and saw Jorn offering his hand to him to help him up. He accepted as he got back to his feet "Yeah... but my friend told me having it off makes it feel more real..." he said, cracking his neck a bit and dusting himself off. "And it looks like he was right..."

"First time using Nerve Gear I take it?" Jorn asked with an amused smirk, as Chris seemed to turn his head away in embarrassment, hiding a small blush.

"Pretty much..." he said, "I got the set just so I could play this game... I just got lucky to buy one of the 10,000 copies."

"When you get more experienced using it then you can turn it on," Ryu informed as he shot off a pair of arrows, hitting two different wolves in the head. "But for beginners it's recommended that it's turned off."

Takeshi had been doing some very simple practice on the other slimes, and was starting to get the hang of it. "This is pretty fun!" he said. "I'm definitely starting to get the hang of these skills... I wonder if there's a way that we can make our own skills..."

"There's no real need, since there is an unlimited amount of skills like I mentioned before," Jorn said, as he reached down and picked up a pebble. "Blacksmithing, Archery, One-handed, two-handed weapons, blunt weapons, sneak... the list goes on. The one thing they didn't include is magic."

"Yeah, I know," Takeshi replied. "I guess... I guess I'm just thinking it might be fun to try and create an _**ougi**_ for myself..."

"No magic in an RPG like this?" Chris asked, looking around. "That seems like a kinda bold decision."

"Wonder if I'll be able to replicate the _Hagakure no Ugoki(Hidden Leaf Movement) _that I created in Terracraft." Ryu wondered, bouncing on toes. "Gonna probably have to build up the movement stats a bit first though."

Jorn sighed as he handed Chris a healing potion "You just need to remember that what is important is your initial motion input," he said, as he approached the Slime that beat Chris before.

"I know that... but it keeps moving around!" Chris complained.

Jorn just shook his head as he lifted up the pebble "If you do the Motion Input right, by activating one of your skills like Sword, or Bow skills..."

As he got into a throwing position, the pebble Jorn was about to throw seemed to glow a bright red color, before he threw it forward. It sped forward leaving behind a small trail of red light before it hit the slime dead in one of its red eyes, causing it to gurgle in pain as it glared at Jorn.

"...the system will ensure that your attack will most likely hit," Jorn said with a grin, "Not to mention it delivers more damage than normal. The best way I can put it is that you add a slight pause, and when you 'feel' the skill begin to activate, you need to release it. like so..."

The Slime charged at Jorn, as he held his sword back as he got into a fighting stance. As his sword began to glow red, he let out a battle cry as he dashed forward with surprising speed, his sword leaving behind a glowing red trail much like the pebble did, before he delivered a long slice to the Slime, dividing the slime in half as its health bar reaches Zero.

There was a short pause before the two halves of the slime disappeared in flashes of blue and white light, before text appeared announcing how much XP, Money, and Items Jorn received from the kill. "See? Just like that." He said, before pointing at a Wolf nearby. "Now, you try it with that wolf. Remember: Activate your skill, and when you feel its about to begin... let it loose!"

Chris didn't look too certain, but he nodded as he brought out his shortsword once again, and faced down with the wolf, its bright red eyes glaring at him as it snarled, causing him to gulp. '_Alright... skill... activate the sword skill..._' he thought as he did as instructed, and as Jorn had described, he felt a strange sensation as he felt the power of the skill build up.

The Wolf howled as it charged at him, however Chris let out his own battle cry as he charged forward, his sword letting loose a light blue trail of light as his skill activated. In one fluid motion, he stabbed the Wolf dead into the head and into its skull. There was a small pause as its health bar reaches Zero, before just like the Slime, it disappeared as the XP was awarded to Chris along with Money and Items.

"Yes!" Chris cheered, as he did something which surprised everyone present as he hugged Jorn, causing him to freeze. "I got it, thanks Jorn!"

"Uhh... yeah... you're welcome..." Jorn said with an uneasy chuckle. "You can, uh... let go of me now."

Chris blinked for a moment, as he blushed and stepped back. "Sorry... just... got caught in the moment..." he said, embarrassed.

'_Hmm..._' Takeshi thought as he watched them. '_I know that a fair majority of the female characters in this game are most likely male players, but the reverse also is true-some of the male characters are quite probably girl players... and given Chris' reaction... could he actually be one of those 'girls who play as guys'?_'

Ryu was chuckling quietly as he looked at the pair. '_Definitely a chick,_' he thought. '_All of the mannerisms and way of speaking, all point towards female, that little... 'moment' just proved it._'

Patriot was also piecing it together as well. '_He's a girl, no doubt,_' he thought. '_Though it looks like Jorn hasn't figured it out yet... _' he then chuckled silently '_This will make a great video if I manage to record his reaction when he finds out. hehehe..._'

"Anyways..." Jorn said, "It's more fun to play when you get to move your full body when you fight, right?"

"Yeah!" Chris said as 'he' inspected his sword. "I mean, I've played a few games before... but I've never played a VR game like this before!"

Jorn chuckled a bit as he nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Come on, let's head to the next area. There's more animals and Computer-Generated enemies to fight than just slimes, boars and wolves."

* * *

_**Later**_

_**Hill Area**_

* * *

Nearly five hours have passed since the Party had begun their hunting through the area, and in the game engine the world was turning into 'night time' as the sun was beginning to set. They were now standing on top of a hill as they watched several birds fly overhead.

"I can't believe this is all virtual, though..." Chris said, looking at the horizon. "It just... it's all so real..."

"I know," Takeshi replied. "It doesn't feel virtual at all, it feels like we're actually here... Man, if it's this good now, I can only imagine what STOVR is gonna be like..."

Ryu laughed. "Ah, you and Star Trek, Takeshi," he said chuckling. "Personally, I can't wait for that Star Wars VR, always wanted to kick it old school in an X-Wing."

"Yeah, that'd be cool, too," Takeshi admitted. "Hey, have you heard the rumors they're actually making a Gundam VR? That would be even more epic than STOVR, to be honest."

"If they do, I am TOTALLY Pre-ordering that!" Jorn said with a face-splitting grin. "I just hope they let us make completely custom M.S units!"

"I personally am looking forward to that Re-Release of World of Warcraft with VR." Dennis said, "I mean, back when it was released it was _huge,_ imagine how it will be now with Virtual Reality?"

"Eh, I personally never really got into it," Ryu admitted before yawning. "Goddamn, I'm hungry."

"Me, too," Takeshi replied, standing up. "Luckily, I'm well-stocked, so I should be able to survive for a week even though my parents are away."

There was another growl of a stomach, as everyone turned to the source that was Chris, who blushed in embarrassment "I guess I'm getting pretty hungry too..." 'He' said, as 'he' pulled up a menu. "I'm gonna log out and eat, then log back... huh?"

Jorn blinked as he looked at Chris. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"Uhh... maybe..." 'He' said. "Jorn, complete Noob question here... but how do I log out?"

"Logout? Seriously?" Jorn asked incredulously, as Chris shrugged.

"Hey, this is nerve-gear!" 'he' said, "I can't Control-Alt-Delete this!"

Jorn sighed as he pulled up his own menu. "Alright, it's right under the Help thing right... here?" Jorn blinked as he looked at his menu, and found the 'Logout' feature was gone, and blank. "Huh?"

"What the frak?" Takeshi asked, having opened his own menu and discovered the same thing. "There's no Logout button? Suddenly, I have a _**bad**_ feeling about this."

"Did the game glitch?" Ryu asked as he pulled up his own menu. "I'm getting some bad juju vibes too, guys."

Jorn turned to Patriot and Dennis "You two as well?" He asked, as they pulled up their menus as well.

"Yeah... it's blank. No Log-out button," Patriot said, as Dennis nodded.

"Maybe... it's a bug?" Dennis said. "I mean, the game is fresh out of Beta, so there has to be a few bugs that they'll patch up eventually, right?"

"This is a rather important bug," Takeshi replied. "If this was a bug, you'd think it would be something that they'd find _**in**_ Beta." His eyes narrowed. "I can think of a couple of possibilities... and both of them are bad."

Dennis turned to Jorn. "Did you ever have a problem like this in Beta?" he asked, however Jorn just shrugged.

"No, the Logout button was always there," he said. "The worst thing to happen in the Beta was a glitch here and there, nothing as important as this..."

"Well, hopefully it will be fixed," Patriot said. "I mean, they could just turn off the Servers and auto-log us out until they fix it, right? Or we just wait for someone to remove our Nerve-Gear."

"Well, I guess I _could _wait for Matt or Kelsey to come to my house, and take it off..." Jorn said, shaking his head. "But shouldn't the developer's have released an announcement about this at some point? Not to mention that if this _really _is a glitch in the system, it could really hurt SAO's reputation on the game market!"

"Like I said, I'm only seeing two possibilities, here, both of them bad," Takeshi reiterated. "I don't think this is a glitch in the system-it's just impossible. So, either a cyber-terrorist has hacked the game and is holding us hostage... or the creators of SAO _**deliberately removed**_ the Logout feature from the actual release as part of some ulterior motive."

Jorn rolled his eyes. "Takeshi, you're paranoid," he said. "I mean, come on... _Cyber-Terrorist, _really? What would they gain from keeping a bunch of kids inside a VR game that they can easily escape from if someone removes their Nerve-Gear. And why would anyone from the development staff _want _to keep us here, and for what motive?"

"Can't we just remove our Gear ourselves?" Chris asked as 'he' reached for 'his' head as if to pull off 'his' gear... only nothing happened.

"It doesn't work like that, Chris," Jorn said, shaking his head. "The Nerve-gear intercepts anything we tell our bodies to do here, so we can't move our real bodies at all."

Before any of the others could come up with an answer, however, they all jumped when they heard the sound of an old booming bell, as it seemed as though the clouds in the sky began to speed up.

Then suddenly, the group found themselves surrounded by blue and white light, and the next thing they knew they found themselves in the middle of the largest town square. "What the...?" Jorn said, as he looked around, and soon additional players began to appear around them. "Forced Fast-Travel?"

"I guess there's a bit of an announcement to be made," Takeshi replied. "And if _**either**_ of my theories are right... this is where things are going to start going to hell in a handbasket."

"Tom, is that you?" A feminine voice asked from beside them, turning the group saw a pair of girls who were quite obviously twins with dark red hair and light blue eyes, they were both wearing a single set of armor that looked like a corset with leggings that went up to their thighs, the one on the left was wearing a black set of armor while the one on the left was wearing a white version, the woman wearing black was armed with a large Claymore strapped to her back while the second had a Naginata on hers.. "It _is _you!"

"Karen, Lynda, you guys are here too?" Ryu asked in obvious surprise.

"Yeah, but... we can't logout, do you know what's going on?" Karen, the one wearing the black armor, asked, sounding concerned. "Then we were forced Fast Travelled here..."

Ryu shook his head in denial. "I don't know either," he admitted as he held his chin between his finger and thumb. "But... I think an admin may be behind this."

"An Admin?" Lynda asked surprised. "But... why?"

"Hey, look! Up there!" Someone shouted, as everyone seemed to look up as they saw a flashing red sign in the sky. Jorn narrowed his eyes to get a better look, and could see it read 'Warning: System Announcement'.

Suddenly, the sign seemed to duplicate more and more, as it seemed to cover the entire skies above them as the sky was covered in red, casing a freaky red glow over everything. However then it seemed the sky showed some static, before it almost looked as if _blood _were emerging from out of the warning signs.

"...and now the sky is bleeding..." Jorn muttered, "Man, they are _really _pressing for that M-Rating, aren't they?"

However, suddenly the blood seemed to shape-shift, and take form. And above the sky, appeared a huge man in a set of red and gold robes, and his face hidden under a hood, almost appearing faceless.

Jorn's eyes widened in surprise "That... that's a game master..." he muttered, "They're like... the bosses of the Admin's..."

"Hey, Take?" Ryu said getting his friend's attention. "Has your 'bad feeling' turned into 'flee for your life while tossing grenades over your shoulder' type of feeling?"

"Yeah..." Takeshi replied. "Although I doubt that fleeing would work very well at this point... I hate to say 'I told you so', but I think one of my theories just got proven."

"_**Attention Players,**_" The Game Master said, as it spread its arms out. "_**Welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihito, as of this moment, I am the sole person who controls this world.**_"

"Kayaba Akihito..." Jorn muttered before his eyes flew wide. "Jesus, he's the guy who invented Nerve-Gear and SAO!"

"...And my bad feeling just got even worse," Takeshi remarked.

"_**I am fairly sure you have noticed, that the logout button has been removed from your menus,**_" He continued, as a much larger version of the game menu appeared in front of him and everyone else. "_**But this is not a defect in the game, I repeat: This is not a defect in the game, It is a feature of Sword Art Online.**_"

"A Feature?" Dennis asked, "What kind of Feature keeps us from logging out?"

"_**You cannot log out of SAO yourselves,**_" Kayaba continued, "_**And no one on the outside can or will shut down your Nerve-Gear. As should this be attempted, the transmitter inside your Nerve Gear will emit a powerful Microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life.**_"

When he said that, many people gasped in shock, or shouted in disbelief, calling Kayaba insane or that he was bluffing. Takeshi looked at Jorn. "You were saying something about me being paranoid?" he asked. However, Jorn was too shocked to respond as he looked up at the looming figure with wide eyes of shock.

"H-He's not serious... is he?" Chris asked fearfully.

"The Nerve-Gear does have Microwave Transmitters to function..." Jorn muttered, "If the safety's were removed... a human brain would be fried instantly... and since the Nerve-gear are self-powered... it doesn't need to be recharged for energy."

"Which means that he's basically holding us all hostage for some reason," Takeshi remarked. "I admit that I wasn't expecting it to be quite this bad, but I suspected something like this the instant we discovered the Logout button was missing. The only question now is why."

"Inflated ego," Ryu announced he looked up at the towering figure. "Obviously has a God Complex, he's using the Nerve-Gear and SAO to play out his delusional Fantasies."

"_**Unfortunately, several player's friends and families have ignored this warning, and have attempted to remove the Nerve-Gear.**_" Kayaba said, "_**As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, both from Aincrad and the Real World.**_"

This news caused everyone's eyes to widen as they looked up at him in shock, "Over two hundred people... dead?" Patriot asked, "No way... that..."

"_**As you can see,**_" The man continued as tabs appeared around him revealing newsreels. "_**News organizations from across the world are reporting this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume the danger of a Nerve Gear being removed is now Minimal. I hope you will relax, and attempt to clear the game.**_"

"This guy... he's a classic sociopath," Ryu muttered. "Feels no guilt in deaths he is responsible for, but they _never _act without a plan, an end game, so what is it?"

"No clue," Takeshi remarked, "but I get the feeling he'll tell us soon."

"_**But I want you to remember this clearly,**_" he continued. "_**There is no longer a way to revive someone within the game. If your HP Drops to Zero, your avatar will be forever lost, and simultaneously... the Nerve-Gear will destroy your brain.**_"

Jorn and nearly everyone else within the area gasped, as Jorn thought back to when he fought the Wolf... if he _had _died back then... "We die here..." he muttered, "We... die in real life..."

"I think SAO just _**became**_ real life for us, Jorn," Takeshi remarked. "With all of the same limits, only now we can properly measure our health."

"Just what the world needed, a sociopathic genius with the means to create his own world, and the intelligence to be able to fill it with real people." Ryu growled angrily. "Goddammit!"

"_**There is only one means of escape,**_" he continued. "_**To Complete the game. You are all currently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, floor 1**_" as he spoke, a large blue 3-D map appeared before them all. "_**If you make your way through the Dungeons, and the Floor bosses, you will advance a floor for each boss. Defeat all of the bosses, along with the final boss on Floor 100, and you will defeat the game!**_"

"Wait..." Patriot said, shaking his head. "He wants us to actually _beat _an MMO?"

"Dude, Fuck you!" Dennis shouted at the Game Master. "When was the last time you heard of someone beating Everquest?"

"When was the last time you heard of someone _playing _Everquest?" Patriot asked in return, causing Dennis to pause. "Good point," he said.

"Oh shit..." Jorn muttered as his hands flew to his face. "100 floors? Not even the best Beta Testers got that far! The furthest anyone had gotten was Floor 10!"

"And knowing a psychopath like this guy, the odds are that the monsters and bosses from the Beta could be considered 'tame' compared to what they have now," Takeshi added. "He's basically telling us to go through the equivalent of the armies of Mordor times 50 if we want to get out of here!"

"No..." Karen whispered as she and her sister stared in shock.

"Why is this happening?" Lynda asked gripping her sister's hands tightly.

"Hey, hey," Ryu said in a soothing voice getting their attention as he pulled both of them into a hug. "It'll be alright, I'm sure that every Cyber Division in the world is working on a way to get us out."

"And even if he has given us an impossible task for ensuring our own survival..." Takeshi remarked with a smirk, "...We'll just have to make like Mu la Flaga, and make the Impossible, Possible."

Ryu snorted. "'Sides, they said that the final boss in Terracraft couldn't be beaten," he pointed out. "And look at what we did to him!"

"Yeah... but you remember how many times we _died _to finally kill him?" Jorn asked grimly.

"_**Finally,**_" Kayaba said, as he pressed one more button on his menu. "_**I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves.**_"

Jorn and the others blinked in surprise, before they all pulled up their menu's, and saw a new item in their storage. "Mirror?" Jorn asked in surprise as he pressed on the icon, as a mirror appeared before him as he grabbed it. He looked at it and saw his reflection...

"WHOA SHIT!" Dennis shouted as he suddenly found himself surrounded in light, and soon Chris followed as 'he' let out a feminine scream, and moments later everyone else in the area screamed as light surrounded them.

When the light died down, Jorn blinked as he looked at himself. "Still alive..." he muttered, as he looked at the Mirror again... only to freeze as he no longer saw the face of his Avatar... but now he saw the face of what he looked like in real life. "The Shit?"

"Okay, this is messed up!" Ryu announced as he saw himself in the mirror. "Why is he doing this?"

Jorn turned around, at first not realizing who the others were until he recalled what they look like from live chats. "Ryu... Patriot... Takeshi?" he asked. "The hell...how...?" He then looked around him, and saw everyone else in the area looked different as well...

...however, as he inspected the area... he couldn't help but chuckle as he realized that the majority of the former Female Avatars had transformed into guys. "Hah, what did I tell ya, Dennis?" He said, "Half of the girls here were guys in disguise." He then nudged Chris. "How many times has that happened to you Chris, huh?"

"Oh no..." A new unfamiliar _female _voice said, causing Jorn to blink as he turned to where Chris once stood... only to find a woman who easily looked as old as Jorn was, wearing the same clothes as Chris had on. She had long wavy bright red hair which stretched beyond her shoulder blades, and her eyes a perfect match to what Chris's were being dark green, however appearing even brighter. And he also noticed her breasts were pressing against the armor, obviously not fitting with the male version of the armor. The woman was looking at the mirror with wide eyes "No no no... not this..."

"What is this?" Karen asked her hair now black as her dark brown eyes looked around, her twin looking the exact same as her. "Why does everyone look like they do in real life?"

"My guess is that the Nerve-Gear has a feature which allowed it to record what we actually look like, and that mirror somehow caused it to overwrite what we had for our avatars," Takeshi remarked. "And if I remember correctly, we also had to rub special pads all over ourselves while calibrating the Nerve-Gear, which would account for how it recorded our bodies, too."

Jorn however, still looked at 'Chris' in surprise with wide eyes. "Y-You're a girl?" he asked. "Wha... why the hell was your Avatar a guy?"

'Chris' looked at Jorn, and tried to form a response. "Well... I...err... umm..."

"_**Right now, you are probably asking yourselves 'Why'?**_" The man continued. "_**Why would Kayaba Akihito, developer of Sword Art Online and Nerve-Gear, do all of this? My Goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason: To create this world, and intervene in it. And now... it is complete.**_"

"...Your estimation was right on, Ryu," Takeshi remarked. "He's a megalomaniac psychopath..."

They heard Patriot growl as he gripped one of the kunai on his leg holster, "If by some miracle we get out of here," he said, "I'm gonna hunt that son-of-a-bitch down and shove a knife so far up his ass, he'll be singing soprano, while I'll use another to cut his balls off!"

"_**This ends the Tutorial for the official launch of Sword Art Online,**_" Kayaba said, and as if mocking them all, he added "_**Good luck, Players.**_" Moments after he said that, the game master appeared to dissolve into thin air, before the warning signs all disappeared, returning to the sunsetting skies above them.

After that... silence. Nothing but absolute and total silence as not a single person in the area spoke a word. The information that they were now trapped inside the very game they have been longing to play sat inside the hearts of everyone there...

Then, somewhere in the crowd, there was the sound of a mirror breaking, followed by someone shouting 'No!' before all hell broke loose. People shouted in protest and disbelief, demanding to be let loose, while others began to run out of the area, to somewhere in the town of beginning.

When this all happened, Jordan turned to the others. "Come on, we gotta get out of here!" He shouted. "Follow me!" With that, he grabbed Chris's hand, and she 'eeped' as he ran forward through the crowd.

Takeshi nodded, and began running right behind them, with the others of their group following closely. The twins ended up joining them, as well.

The group were soon outside of the town, where they regrouped at the same hunting ground.

"Man, I can't believe this shit is happening," Dennis said.

"I know what you mean," Takeshi replied. "Still, it _**is**_ happening, whether we believe it or not. The main question is: what do we do now?"

Jordan sat on a large stone as he just looked at the ground with a shock-frozen face. '_This is really happening..._' he thought. '_I can't believe it but... it's really happening..._'

"Jorn?" Dennis asked his friend, seeing the almost shell-shocked look on his friend's face. "What do we do?"

It took a few moments before Jordan looked up. "Why are you asking me?" He snapped back.

"You're the only one out of all of us who was in the Beta!" Dennis said, "You know more about this game than any of us!"

"I've only been as far as floor ten!" Jordan shouted back, causing some of the others to jump in surprise. "I know a lot about those floors... but after that, what good would I be?"

"You still know more about this game than us!" Takeshi replied. "Not just the floors and the enemies within, but how everything in here works! We need that knowledge now! And we need you, our friend! You've gotten us out of tight scrapes in Terracraft, so I have faith that you'll be able to get us out of this!"

"Terracraft and Sword Art are _completely different _now!" Jorn snapped back. "If we die here, we die in real life! I just..." he held his head in his hands. "If I mess up... and... and one of you guys dies... _really _dies..." he shook his head. "I'm _not _a leader you guys, as much as I like to think I am sometimes, I'm just not! That's what I've always left Ryu or Patriot to do, even you Takeshi! You'd probably be a better leader than I would!"

"I'm not a leader either, Jorn!" Takeshi yelled. "A leader is the guy who comes up with the strategies, who figures out how to win, and that's not me! I'm a Warrior, not a Strategist! The closest I may get are my 'bad feelings' which somehow always precede something bad happening!"

"I'll admit to leadership qualities," Ryu informed as he folded his arms over his chest. "But I'm better suited to being an advisor, I can't concentrate on analyzing the enemy when I have to worry about the entire party."

"Jaden," Patriot spoke up. "You remember when we went up against that Orkish Warchief in Terracraft? Weren't you the one who lead the charge, told us how to bring that giant hulk down without losing a single member of our party?" At his nod, Patriot continued "And wasn't it you, who managed to get the Sabercat and Bloodhound guilds to work together on that raid on the Centuar Raiders?"

Jaden barked a small laugh at that. "I thought they were going to be more focused on fighting each other..." he muttered.

"Right, because they rallied behind _you_ and what you agreed to help them do," Patriot said. "Jordan, you don't give yourself enough credit. Out of all of us here, you might be the best leader of us all. You showed us that in Terracraft... and you can do it again here."

"We weren't with you guys for long," Karen piped up, getting the group's attention. "But you are a capable leader, Jorn."

"Yeah," Lynda agreed with a grin. "I remember when we were backs against the wall against those Player Killers and a certain somebody managed to get a plan going to get us out!"

"You see, Jorn?" Takeshi asked. "We all think you're a good leader, more than you give yourself credit for." He then decided to try borrowing a page from that one Anime he liked to watch. "And if you can't believe in yourself, then believe in us, the ones who _**do**_ believe in you."

Jordan looked up at the group who all looked back at him with confident smiles, and he sighed a bit before he managed to crack a small smile back.

"Well..." He said, with one last sigh. "I guess... Ah hell, I'll give it a shot."

"Glad to hear it," Takeshi replied with a smile of his own. "So... where do we go from here?"

Jordan was silent for a moment as he thought about it for a moment. "Well..." he began, "I think we should track down the members of the guild I set up during the Beta... They should be able to help us out. We could use their help to set up a Guild here. We need strength in numbers if we're gonna survive this."

"Gotcha," Takeshi replied. "Strength in Numbers is definitely something we need. Karen, Lynda, Chris, you okay with sticking with us?"

"Well, if Ryu's with you guys..." Karen said as she and her sister gave him a rather suggestive smile. "We'll stick around as well."

"Please treat us well," Lynda requested with a slight bow before grinning at Ryu. "I know Ryu will."

Ryu let out a slight cough as a blush colored his cheeks. "Fine with me." He assured smiling at the pair.

Jordan then turned to Chris "What do you say, Chris?" He asked with a smile. "I think you'd make a good addition to our soon-to-be Guild..." He then blinked. "By the way... You never told us why your last Avatar was a Guy..."

Chris blushed a bit as she fidgeted. "Well..." she said, "I guess I could join... and the reason why is... I didn't want guys ogling over me, so... I made my avatar a guy..." She then sighed as she gestured to herself. "Pretty much a moot point now, though..."

"Sounds like a good reason to me," Takeshi remarked. "I'd imagine that quite a few women use male Avatars for the same reason. A slight word of warning, though: Even if your avatar is a guy, your mannerisms and actions might still give you away as a girl... such as giving Jorn here that hug when he taught you how to use Sword Skills."

"Also how in you walk, speech patterns, a lot of ingrained stuff," Ryu added in. "But that's not for now, where do we go now, Jorn?"

Jorn hummed in thought as he pulled up the main menu before him "Well, first we gotta find my old guild members..." he said. "There were only a few of us at the time, we were a pretty small guild. We didn't want to worry about managing so many players... but like I said, we _need _more members in the guild if we're gonna take on the bigger bosses." He then pressed a few commands on his Menu, and before them appeared the images of one individual, a young man who had shoulder-length light blue colored hair and light blue eyes.

"This here is Diabel Crafton," he said, gesturing to the image. "He was kinda like my second-in-command, good guy. If we wanna find the rest of the guild, we need to find him." He then chuckled a bit. "Knowing him, he's probably already looking for other old Guild members, and rallying others to the cause."

"What did you call your guild?" Patriot asked.

Jorn shrugged. "Well, for the Beta we decided on the Aka Ōkami, or Red Wolf Guild." he said, "Although we discussed getting a different name after the Beta, and getting a few more members." He then scratched his chin. "Still not sure if we should keep the name or change it..."

"How about Fenrir?" Takeshi asked. "I don't know too much about mythology, but I do remember hearing that Fenrir was the name of some being in Norse Mythology that had ties to wolves..."

Patriot spoke at that. "Fenrir was the Monsterwolf that was said that he was the one who will eat Odin, the King of Asgard."

"Hellaton myths about him," Ryu informed. "Actually, did one of my University Papers on the Psychology of Fenrir."

"I see," Takeshi remarked contemplatively. "Well, if we're going after the final Boss and a way out of here, Fenrir would definitely fit."

"Our quest is to kill an essential God," Ryu murmured, looking up into the sky. "Should be interesting at the very least."

Jordan shrugged. "Alright, Fenrir it is," he said, before he stood up. "Well, it's best if we start now. Chances are Diabel is still in the Town of Beginning, trying to find the members of the Guild right now."

"Then that's our best place to start, I suppose," Karen mused. "It would also be a good idea to stock up on items while we're there."

Patriot nodded at that. "Good idea, we'll need all the equipment we can get," he said.

"Gonna need plenty of arrows," Ryu informed, looking at his quiver speculatively. "Hey, Fletching is a skill in this game right?"

"I think so, from what I've heard," Takeshi remarked. "Blacksmithing, too..." he trailed off as he began thinking of an idea. "Hey, Jorn, were any of your previous guild members skilled at computer hacking? I have an idea for something that might give us some extra power, but we'd need someone with decent computer hacking and coding abilities, and hope they'd be able to hack the game from within."

Jorn thought about that for a hard moment. "Well..." he said, "There might be one... Kalek Borne, he helped supply us with potions, poisons and other types of equipment. Although some of the stuff he got us were... odd, as in we have no idea how he got half of the stuff. I also caught him typing some commands into his menu I've never seen before, but I never confronted him about it."

Takeshi nodded, smiling slightly. "I'll need to talk to him as soon as we can find him," he said. This'll probably be his toughest task yet, but if he can do it, we'll soon have a great Power on our side." '_One I've wanted to wield ever since I first saw it on TV,_' he added mentally.

"That's a dangerous game, Takeshi," Ryu warned cautiously. "After all, Kayaba is probably on alert for such things."

"Maybe," Takeshi admitted. "I have a feeling, however, that I might _**need**_ that Power for some of the later Bosses."

"You both have good points," Jordan said. "However, I doubt that Kayaba will really pay much attention to us as long as we don't do anything that directly threatens his control, or try to find an alternate way to remove our Nerve-Gear without killing us. As long as we don't make a massive habit of hacking _constantly,_ we should be good."

"Right," Takeshi agreed. "Hopefully we won't need to do it too much, especially if we can get it right the first time." '_And I can ask Kalek to give the thing a simplified hacking interface, so I can create the other two items on my own. I get the feeling Kayaba's greatly upped the difficulty on the Bosses, so having access to the Power of the Samurai might be needed earlier than I'm thinking._'

"Takeshi, whatever this thing is you're getting," Ryu said, getting Takeshi's attention. "Don't rely on it, last resort, alright?"

"Gotcha," Takeshi replied. "I'll save it for Boss Fights, and only if I don't see any other options."

"Just be careful, Takeshi..." Jordan said, as he began to walk away. "Come on guys! Our best bet to find them is to find where me and the Guild use to meet up at. That's where I'd go."

_**Later, Town of Beginnings**_

It took them some time to make it back to the Town of Beginnings, as it was already nightfall. However, thankfully, things had simmered down in the town, although they could still see the fear in the eyes of the players, as they were now making double-sure that they didn't end up dead.

'_This is supposed to be a game..._' Jordan thought, as he looked at the fearful payers who walked by. '_People are suppose to be enjoying themselves... not be afraid of every damn shadow around them..._' he bared his teeth just a bit as his fists clenched. '_Damn you Kayaba...you're going to pay for this!_'

'_We'll make a way out of here..._' Takeshi thought. '_There's no way I'll let this be my end, and I'll save as many others as I can._'

'_He has to have an exploitable weakness,_' Ryu thought as he went over every single word Kayaba said. '_There are tells, there always is, I just need to find it..._'

'_Damn it...,' _Patriot thought, _'And I thought entering this virtual reality was a good idea,'_

He then remembered about the others said about Kalek, and a thought came to him as a small smile plastered itself onto his face.

This didn't go unnoticed by Jordan, as he glanced at Patriot. "Patriot? What is it?" he asked.

"Ah, just thinking about when we meet with Kalek. I'm gonna ask him to help me with something," he said.

"Well, let's hope we meet him soon, then," Takeshi remarked. "In fact, meeting all of your old guildmates will help out quite a bit, Jorn."

The group continued to follow Jorn, until he came across what looked to be an old theater for plays. Jordan guided them inside the halls until they entered the inside, where the stone stage was before them, which appeared like a small castle.

Jordan hopped onto the stage itself, taking a few steps towards the fake stage castle before calling out "Diabel!" He shouted, "Kalek! Sumeragi! Bristow! You guys here? It's me, Jorn!"

There was a long pause, as Jordan and the others remained quiet awaiting for a response. Just as Jorn was about to call out again, he heard footsteps. And finally, emerging out of the stage castle, was Diabel Crafton, still clad in his full armor, as he looked at Jorn in surprise.

"Jorn?" He asked, almost shocked before he smiled a bit. "Jorn! It is you, isn't?"

Jordan chuckled a bit as he stepped forward. "Great to see you again, Diabel," he said. "Its been awhile since the Beta, huh? Wish it was under better circumstances though..."

"Yeah..." Diabel said, shaking his head, before he glanced behind Jorn and noticed the others. "Who are they?"

"Friends of mine," he answered, gesturing them to come up onto the stage. "They were part of my Guild in Terracraft, and they all got SAO and are just as stuck in this mess as we are."

"A pleasure to meet you, Diabel," Takeshi greeted. "My name is Takeshi Yamato."

"Dennis Nieves-Diaz," Dennis said with a nod.

"D. Joseph Cobb, aka Patriot," Patriot said. "Nice to meet ya, Diabel,"

"Thomas Johnston, Most call me Ryu though." Ryu greeted.

"Hi, we weren't apart of the guild but I'm Karen Smith," Karen greeted with a wave. "This is my twin sister Lynda."

"Hello." Lynda greeted with a smile.

Diabel smiled a bit and nodded. "Pleasure to meet you all as well," he said, turning back to Jordan. "I'm guessing they'll be joining Aka Okami, then?"

Jordan nodded "Pretty much," he said. "Though they suggested we should officially call the Guild Fenrir... since we never really did hammer down the official name to the Guild."

Diabel chuckled a bit as well. "Sounds good to me," he said, before he pointed his head towards the Stage castle. "Come on, the others are inside."

"How many are here?" Ryu asked curiously as they started moving forward.

"Including myself, and the three other members of me and Jorn's guild from the SAO Beta test... we have about ten people here," he answered. "The rest are people fresh in the game, they're all pretty scared about this... but we've managed to calm them down... for now at least."

"Let's hope it stays that way," Jordan said, as they entered the castle. Inside there were, as Diabel explained, nine other people inside. Most of them were just lying around, however three in particular that caught the others interest.

The first one was a woman standing near the top stairs of the Castle stage, looking to be in her mid 20's with curly shoulder length brunette hair and amber colored eyes, wearing lightweight leather armor, with a Crossbow in her hands, gazing outside of a window keeping watch. She spared a short glance at Jordan, giving him a small smile before resuming her watch.

The next was a young man, who looked about Jordan's age with short red hair and green eyes wearing metal plate armor, and a Claymore strapped to his back. He was leaning against the wall, half-asleep but managing to keep himself awake.

Finally, in the corner of the room, was a man who looked about Takeshi's age, with asian features. Black crew cut hair, black eyes and wearing leather armor with two Tanto knives on his sides. His eyes were focused entirely on the menu screen floating before him, typing several commands repetitively into it. He glanced up as Jordan and the others as they came in, and smiled. "I was wondering when you'd show up!" he said. "How ya been, Jorn?"

Jordan chuckled a bit. "Great to see you all here guys," he said. "Sumeragi, Bristow, Kalek. "

Takeshi walked up to them and bowed slightly. "A pleasure to meet you all," he said. "My name is Takeshi Yamato." He then turned to the guy focused on the menu and asked, "I'm assuming you're Kalek Borne, the hacker Jorn here told us about?"

Kalek rose his eyebrow at that, glancing at Jordan who nodded. Sighing, he nodded. "Alright, no need to keep secrets like that anymore... considering we're gonna need all the help we can get," he said, "Yes, I am a Hacker... though could you try to keep it quiet? I don't quite like the idea of the word being spread around too much considering all of these new rules Kayaba put on us."

Takeshi grinned. "No worries," he said. "To be honest, he told us about you only when I asked if he knew any good hackers... I have an idea which can only be implemented by someone hacking into the game code... a new Power which might be needed against some of the later Floor Bosses."

Kalek smirked a bit as he continued typing. "Well, come no further, 'cause I got some good news for you all." he said, causing them to blink. "You see, as you know Jaden, most of the stuff we had during the Beta Test was still on our characters when the actual game started, right? Well... you see, Kayaba only made a few changes to the Beta before turning it into the game itself."

Jordan rose an eyebrow. "Where are you going with this?" He asked.

"Well, you see, while I was in the Beta... I managed to pass a 20 Firewall coding allowing me to access parts of the game's very own coding," Kalek said. "Though I can't do anything about the whole Nerve-Gear killing us thing... there are plenty of other things I can do..." he grinned a bit "Including adding a few bits of cut content that are still in the game files."

"Like?" D.J. asked, wanting him to get to the point.

"Well," Kalek said, "As it turns out, Kayaba originally intended for Magic to be part of SAO, divided into several different skills and elements. However for some reason he removed it from gameplay..." he then grinned. "But the files and content _for _the Magic Skills are still deep in the game's coding. And I can fully access and grant them to whoever I want, since as of now..." he typed a few more commands into his menu. "...I have finished the magic skill's coding. If anyone wants access to magic skills, I can 'train' them in it."

Takeshi grinned. "Really?" he asked. "You can grant us access to the magic system? I can throw around Fire Spells just like I could in Terracraft?"

Kalek grinned. "Yup, 100% access," he said, as he pulled up a screen showing the new skills. "The Magic system for SAO has eight skills for magic. Alchemy, Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Enchanting, Restoration, Mysticism, and Illusion."

Jordan and the others looked at the screen, as they read what each magic skill entitled.

_Alchemy: The School of Alchemy requires a full understanding of chemistry, physics and ancient alchemical theory. A Novice Alchemist can craft Potions and Poisons, but some of the most experienced and renown alchemists know the true art, with the ability of manipulating matter and energy around them, crafting something by giving something of equal value. _

_Alteration: Alteration magic can be used to change the fundamentals of physics and biology. It can harden the caster's skin until it is like armor, cause a lock to pop open without a key, or burden an enemy with invisible weight. Alteration magic's greatest strengths are outside of combat. Many thieves and assassins make use of this school to benefit their careers._

_Conjuration: Calling forth creatures from other worlds and creating weapons with magic are two of the most beneficial tools a caster can utilize. Because of this, casters of all types make use of the school of Conjuration._

_Destruction: The School of Destruction involves the harnessing the energies of the elements, and using them to smite your enemies. This skill makes it easier to cast spells like Fireball, Ice Spike, Lightning Bolt, and many more._

_Enchanting: The more powerful the enchanter, the stronger the magic he can bind to his weapons and armor._

_Restoration: The school of Restoration is dedicated to healing injuries, curing illnesses, poisons, and diseases, the fortification of attributes, shielding and preventing damage, and also includes some spells that manipulate the undead in various ways, most commonly causing them to flee. _

_Mysticism: The school of Mysticism can unravel the mysteries of the universe if properly applied. It can also tell you what is around the next corner, lying in wait for a hapless adventurer to wander by._

_Illusion: The School of Illusion involves manipulating the mind of the enemy. This skill makes it easier to cast spells like fear, charm, and invisibility._

Jordan let out a low whistle as he looked at the magic skills. "Those can really be useful..." he said. "Restoration and Destruction especially... and this Alchemy thing interests me, as well."

"Yeah..." Takeshi remarked. "I'm really wanting Destruction, especially for my Fire Spells... but I still feel that my special project might be necessary. I'll tell you about that one in private later, Kalek."

Kalek blinked at that. "Uh, sure okay," he said.

Patriot also remarked, "I also got an idea that'll help, but like Takeshi said, we'll talk about it in private."

Kalek just blinked again at the offers he was given.

"Right. Gotcha," he said. "Just let me know what it is once you're ready, and I'll see what I can do."

Jordan smiled a bit, as he had a few ideas of his own, but kept them to himself for now before turning to Diabel. "So Diabel," he said. "You have any suggestions on what to do next?"

Diabel sighed "Honestly? It's not looking good..." he said. "If what Kayaba said is true... we're in a very difficult position. All I can suggest is that for now, we need to expand the guild as much as we can. If we're going to take on some of these higher bosses, we need both skills and numbers on our side."

"The numbers shouldn't be all that tough," Takeshi remarked. "Even if we can't get more members into our own guild, we can always team up with other Guilds challenging the bosses as needed. Skills are another matter, but should be relatively easy-as long as we're among the first people to explore any new guild, we should be able to get our members some decent practice and experience."

"There are going to be others like us, building up their Guilds." Jordan said, scratching his chin. "But not all of the other Guilds will be as willing to share their XP... Not to mention some of the Beta players will either band with one another, or try to solo this whole game." Jordan sighed a bit. "I hope Kirito doesn't go Solo in this..."

"Kirito?" Dennis asked, "Who's that?"

"Eh, a guy I played with on the Beta-Test," Jordan said. "We took on a few bosses together, partied up a few times, he's definitely got one of the highest levels in the game."

Patriot blinked at that. "Definitely a guy we need on our team," he said, and Jorn nodded.

"Yup," he said. "Which is why we need to find him. Though that _might _be a problem..." he sighed a bit. "Kirito always was a bit of a Solo Player, we helped each other out a lot, but for every quest we did together, two more he'd do alone. He got the furthest through SAO than any other player in the game." He then chuckled a bit. "We'd both spend day and night leveling up our Beta characters, we sorta came up with a little joke calling ourselves Beaters."

"Beaters?" Dennis asked.

"Its a portmanteau of beta tester and cheater," Jorn said, "Considering how high our levels were after the Beta, one could say we have a pretty unfair advantage over most other players here."

"Yeah, exactly what _is _your Level Jordan?" Dennis asked.

Jordan smirked a bit. "Level 73, with 14,000 Hit Points," he said. "I have maxed out my Auto-healing skill, so I regain 600 HP every 10 seconds. Kirito is level 75, with 15,000 HP, and he regenerates 700 HP every ten seconds."

Takeshi's eyes widened. "Jeez..." he remarked. "That's pretty dang high..." another thought occurred to him. "Out of curiosity, just what is the level cap in this game?"

"No one knows," Jordan said. "If I had to guess, I would say Level 100... but I wouldn't be surprised if you could even surpass _that._"

"I see," Takeshi replied. "Well, hopefully your high level will give us an early advantage... but the rest of us are going to have to grind like crazy to catch up."

"Just do what I did," Jordan said. "Whenever I'm waiting to find high-level bosses, I stick to the forests, killing boars and wolves."

The others just looked at Jordan like he was crazy. "Boars and Wolves?" D.J. asked.

"Yeah, they usually die with one blow, so they're easy XP," He said.

"But aren't those barely worth like five XP a kill?" D.J. asked. "Do you have _any _idea how many we'd have to kill to advance just 30 levels?"

"Yeah, I did the math in the Beta," Jordan said, pulling up his menu. "Sixty-five million, three hundred and forty-five thousand, two hundred and eighty five. Which will take us seven weeks, five days, thirteen hours and twenty minutes, giving ourselves three hours to sleep. And considering we can't log out anymore, it gives us all the more time to level up."

"Not quite in the way you think Jorn," Ryu said warningly. "Our brains need rest as well, they can't keep going 24/7. The longest they can operate without rest and negative repercussions is 24 hours. We _need _to rest daily let our brains 'repair' themselves so to speak, I'd say 6 to 7 hours daily, they don't even know the full effect the Nerve Link has on the brain, let alone Kayaba's 'adjustments.'."

Jordan sighed "Ryu, we don't have the _time _to take it easy," he said. "We may feel fine here, but as time goes by... our bodies in the real world are going to get worse and worse. We are literally on a time limit until either we died in here... or our physical bodies die in real life. Sure our families may put us in hospitals, keep us on life support or something, but that will just stall the inevitable. I will give you that every few days we can have a break... but we need to go all out if we're going to get out of this game alive."

"You don't think I don't know that Jorn!" Ryu shouted angrily, his brown eyes flashing. "You don't think I don't know that right now my body is sitting in an empty apartment that nobody will look for until MONDAY when I don't show up for work? You think that I don't know that as we speak my body is currently starting to eat away at my protein cells to sustain itself? I want to get out of this Jorn, but if our brains burn out it's game over for us! I for one want to get out of this damned sociopath's game so that I can hug my niece and nephew again!"

Jordan and several of the others were taken aback by Ryu's sudden outburst, until Jordan sighed. "You're right Ryu... Sorry, I just... I want to get out of this thing." He said, shaking his head. "I just want to see my family again..."

"So do I, Jorn," Ryu said as he sighed. "But I am not going to drive myself to death trying to get out of here, we already have about a hundred bosses waiting to kill us." With those final words, Ryu strode off to the second level with Karen and Lynda scant seconds behind him, worried looks on their faces.

Jordan sighed a bit, before looking around at the others "Well... I guess for now we should get some rest." he said, "We've got a lot of work to do starting tomorrow."

"Gotcha," Takeshi replied. "We can do that tomorrow, though." He turned to Kalek. "Right now, I'm ready for that private chat to explain my idea whenever you are, Kalek-you can even grant me access to the Magic System while we're at it."

Kalek nodded at that. "Gotcha, it should take no more than a few hours at least," he said, while Takeshi nodded.

"The sooner the better," Takeshi said as the two began moving off into a private corner. "My project for you may take a bit longer, but it'll give us a powerful trump card if we need it in Boss Fights."

Kalek tapped his chin at the thought of that, "Hmm, yes, that can be a great advantage," he said. "I'll get to work on it, right away."

"Great," Takeshi replied. "Here are the details..." and his voice trailed off as the two left hearing distance from the rest of the group.

When they left, soon the others found their own places to rest for the night, while Sumeragi and Dennis agreed to stand first watch, to keep an eye out for any unwelcome visitors.

Upstairs Ryu was sitting in a room next to the window, watching the players as they moved about the town trying to figure things out. '_Why is my mind like this?_' He asked himself with a heavy sigh. '_It continually reminds me of every damned thing that could go wrong, if Geoff comes home and removes the Nerve Gear, if no one at work checks up on me... dammit._'

A knock at the door sounded, breaking Ryu from his thoughts as he looked up at the door to see the twin sisters as they entered. "Karen, Lynda," he said, mildly surprised. "Something you need?"

"More like what _you _need Tom," Karen replied, addressing him by his real name. "We know how your mind works..."

"We're worried about you," Lynda continued, admitting to what the two of them were feeling. "You always burden yourself with ensuring everyone else's mental state is alright, but never yours."

Ryu sighed as he palmed his face seeming to age before the pair. "Yeah, I guess you're right, it's so easy to look at someone else and pinpoint their problems, but turning it onto yourself... it's much harder to do."

The sisters each sat down on either side of him, leaning in to lend him their support. "We know," Karen soothed as she ran her fingers through his hair as Lynda rubbed his thigh. "But perhaps what you need most right now is a... distraction..."

Ryu blinked in surprise as the pair grinned seductively at him. "I think I can agree to that," he answered immediately, a grin breaking over his face as the twins leaned in.

_*****Lemon Alert, if you don't know what a Lemon is, you shouldn't be reading this!*****_

Karen shifted her hand from the top of Ryu's head to his neck and pulled him in for a deep kiss, their tongues entwining with each other as they moaned.

Lynda had begun the process of removing Ryu's clothing starting with his shirt, forcing the kissing pair to separate as she removed it, revealing his upper body. It wasn't anything special, but it showed that he was a hard physical worker. As he and Karen resumed their make out session, Lynda began to kiss at his neck, hitting all of the points that she knew drove him wild.

After a few more seconds of this, Ryu separated his mouth from Karen's, the two of them panting and flushed from arousal. Lynda, however, quickly moved in, claiming his mouth in a kiss of her own as Karen began kissing her way down his upper body and quickly undid his pants and removed them, revealing the boxers he was wearing.

Grinning, Karen quickly pulled them off, freeing Ryu's above-average-sized prick from its confines, and didn't even wait a beat before wrapping her hand around it and kissing the tip, making Ryu groan loudly and restrain himself from jerking his hips.

"Glad to see Kayaba at least got _every _detail right in his little 'character reveal'," Karen announced huskily, a lustful grin on her face as Lynda separated from Ryu and shimmied down to join her sister.

"Mm, got that right," She agreed as the two of them started to kiss Ryu's cock. "He even managed to get the taste right," Lynda informed after a quick lick, causing a moan to be pulled from Ryu's lips.

"God, you two are vixens, you know that right?" Ryu asked with a slight pant, making the two giggle in response. "Such teases you are, leaving me naked while you two are still clothed."

"Mm, I suppose he does have a point sis," Karen pointed out, a sly grin spreading across her face that was matched by her sister as they slowly stood.

They took a couple steps back from Ryu, getting a raised eyebrow from the archer as they started swaying their bodies to a beat that only they seemed to hear. The two danced closely together, their bodies rubbing up against one another their mouths scant inches from each other as their hands went for the straps to their clothing undoing them and pulling them off one another.

Ryu swallowed as he felt his cock throb in response to their little 'dance' with one another. Their lips were definitely meeting now as their tongues played with one another with their panties dropping to the ground and separated allowing Ryu to admire their nude form.

The twins worked hard to keep their figure going to yoga classes regularly and he had learned after a rather interesting night the two of them actually had learned how to pole dance when they were in their 'rebellious teen' years.

They had medium c-cup breasts with perfectly trimmed hourglass figures that definitely had called attention to the pair, in Virtual Reality and in Real Reality. '_I am truly lucky, aren't I?_' Ryu asked himself as the pair made their way to him a memory of his brother's gobsmacked expression when he came home and went straight to the bedroom with the twins shouting at his brother to put some headphones on.

Ryu's thought process was violently interrupted as the twins knelt in front of him and as one ran their tongues along his throbbing prick, making him moan at the pleasure of their teamwork.

"Ryu..." Karen whispered seductively, for some reason she would always call him by his real name online and offline, but whenever they were intimate with each other, she would use his username, weird, but hot as all hell. "I know you like the foreplay... but... I think we'd like to get it going now..."

Ryu smiled at Karen as she sat down in his lap, pressing his cock between his stomach and her pussy, he could feel just how wet she had become with the foreplay and 'show'. "I'm starting to get impatient myself," he admitted as Lydia slid onto the arm of the chair draping herself over the two of them. "So, how about we move over to the bed and enjoy ourselves."

"Sounds good to me," Lynda agreed an impish grin on her face as she dragged the pair over to the bed and dragged them down onto it alongside her. "Hmm, who get's to ride Tom Jr?" She asked as she idly pumped his rock hard member, ensuring it would stay that way.

"Hmm, I had it the last time," Karen mentioned leaning over to her sister and licking her sister's neck making Ryu mentally curse, that woman knew every single one of his switches.

Lynda on the other hand...

"Yay!" She cried out in an almost childlike glee as she positioned herself over his cock while Karen moved over Ryu's head using her fingers to spread her pussy lips apart.

"Mind _cleaning _me, Ryu?" She purred seductively, making Ryu grin as he leaned up slightly and gave her a quick lick, making her moan.

He wasn't quite able to follow through with his teasing, however, as Lynda chose that moment to plunge herself down onto him, making him moan loudly in pleasure as her pussy walls wrapped themselves around his cock. While most people would think that identical twins like Karen and Lynda would be exactly alike in all respects, they weren't.

Karen was slow and methodical in her thinking and actions, planning almost everything down to the very last detail, even when in the midsts of passion she was always methodical in her actions, prolonging everything.

Lynda on the other hand was excitable and far from methodical and slow. With borderline ADD she seemed to leap from one subject to the next with a childlike glee that few her age could match, something that she quite enjoyed bringing into the bedroom with hard fast fuckings that left the participants sore the next morning.

As such when paired together, everything seemed... harmonized, Lynda would gyrate and bounce on his cock with building speed while Karen would use her sighs, moans and groans of pleasure to control the speed and tempo of Ryu's tongue, all the while the twins would be using their hands and mouths to explore each other's sensitive spots.

"Lynda, you're so tight," Ryu managed to grunt out between 'dives' as Lynda's pace started to pick up.

"You fill me up so-o-o much~" Lynda squealed out, gleefully erotic moans coming out of her mouth with every movement. "Only you make me feel like this... Tom~"

"Ahn," Karen moaned out as she gyrated her hips in sync to Ryu's tongue. "She's right... you are so in sync with us."

Ryu couldn't help but grin as he bucked into Lynda making her squeal in pleasure into her sister's mouth as Karen moaned from Ryu positioning his mouth just right so that his tongue would brush a sweet spot as his chin rubbed against her clit.

"Ryu~" Karen moaned out breaking her mouth away from Lynda's.

"We're cumming!" Lynda finished showing that even with their different personalities, twins still shared an uncanny link with one another.

"Yeah..." Ryu agreed with a grunt. "I'm at my limit!"

"CUM!" Lynda moaned out happily as he finally released himself inside of her triggering her orgasm along with Karen's own as he once again brushed the sweet spot and clit at the same time.

_*****Lemon is over, you may continue reading*****_

"So..." Karen started as she curled up to his right side as Lynda took up his left the three of them basking in the afterglow of their orgasms. "Head a little clearer now?"

"Much," Ryu informed with a content sigh. "Karen, Lynda... thank you."

"Mm," Lynda hummed a smile on her lips. "We'd help you anytime Ryu," she informed. "You... you complete us."

Karen nodded in agreement with her sister. "You do," She agreed with a broad smile. "So... when this is over... how about we start taking this relationship of ours more seriously?"

Ryu blinked in surprise, looking down at the pair who smiled back at him before relaxing and smiled in return. "Y'know... that sounds like a good idea," he agreed. "I think I know a great place for a date as well."

"Mm, talk about giving us incentives," Lynda said with a giggle alongside Karen. "Can't wait for us to get out of here now."

"Indeed," Karen agreed, her eyes drooping as she yawned. "But for now... sleep."

"Sleep sounds great." Ryu agreed with a yawn of his own before slipping off into 'sleep' with the two girls keeping him warm.

* * *

**117Jorn: THERE! Its finished! Now, it will probably take us some time to post the second chapter of this fic, so you shouldn't be expecting a second chapter soon since we got other fics we gotta work on. So until then, Ja Ne!**


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